Explanation:
This beautiful cosmic cloud is a popular stop on telescopic tours of
the constellation
Sagittarius.
Eighteenth century cosmic tourist
Charles Messier cataloged the bright
nebula as M8, while
modern day astronomers recognize the
Lagoon Nebula
as an active stellar nursery about 5,000 light-years distant, in the direction
of the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.
Striking details can be traced through
this remarkable picture,
processed to remove stars and hence better reveal the Lagoon's range of
filaments of glowing hydrogen gas,
dark dust clouds, and the bright, turbulent hourglass region near the image center.
This color composite view was recorded under dark skies near
Sydney,
Australia.
At the Lagoon's estimated distance, the picture
spans
about 50 light-years.